In the late 15th century a new brick manor house was built at Burton Constable, eventually replacing Halsham as the family's principal seat.

This incorporated remains of the earlier manor house along with the addition of the new range containing a Great Hall, which rose the full height of the building and was top-lit by a lantern, along with a Parlour, Chambers and South Wing.

Above the fireplace is a carving of oak boughs and garlands of laurel leaves, crowned by the Garter Star, surrounding the armorial shield of the Constable family in scagliola by Domenico Bartoli.

In 1833, the Clifford-Constables began restoring the Long Gallery, including the acquisition of sphinx tables by Giuseppe Leonardi with tops of specimen marbles by Giacomo Raffaelli.

The Museum Rooms in their present form date from the 1970s, when William Constable's assorted collections of scientific material were recovered from attics where they had been stored since the early 19th century.

William Senior's 1621 survey indicates that the park was then made up of a series of enclosures with the main entrance to the house from the east, approached by a walk or avenue.

Knowlton proposed a menagerie, at the north end of the lakes that is now Grade II* listed[4] and a stove garden set close to the house on the west front, which contained a greenhouse 203 feet (62 m) long.

Lancelot "Capability" Brown, who was responsible for landscaping between 1772 and 1782, joined the ponds to create the two lakes separated by a dam-cum-bridge, planting clumps of trees, installing sunk fences and the ha-ha.

Burton Constable is one of Brown's best documented projects, as notes of his eight visits and the instructions he issued whilst touring the ongoing works were recorded and kept by the estate steward, John Raines.

The whale skeleton was brought to Burton Constable, since as Lord Paramount of the Seigniory of Holderness, Sir Clifford was entitled to anything of interest that washed up on the foreshore.

Sir Clifford thinks of charging twopence for a peep at the whispering gallery in the spinal column; threepence to hear the echo in the hollow of his cerebellum; and sixpence for the unrivalled view from his forehead.